Pac-Man Returns to Our TV Screens Via Unscripted Series

Remember all those old TV shows based on your favourite video game franchises? Whatever happened to those? Oh, wait. They disappeared into the mist of time either because they were instantly forgettable, or television networks grew tired of them.

In conjunction with the 30th anniversary of one of video gaming's most iconic characters, we'll soon see the return of a familiar round face to our TV screens, but it might not be what you were expecting. Namco Bandai Games will be celebrating thirty years of Pac-Man this May and the company has teamed up with Merv Griffin Entertainment to bring us an unscripted series starring the dot-chomping yellow muncher. The production company's President of TV, Roy Bank, describes the show as a:

... big, crazy Wipeout-type event with a lot of energy... The idea we have is to take what Pac-Man is and bring it to life, to bring what is essentially the world's biggest game of tag to television.

Merv Griffin Entertainment has been responsible for an eclectic (shall we say?) range of shows in the past, with Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus; Dance Fever; Merv Griffin's Crosswords; and Lisa Williams: Voices from the Other Side as a few examples. However, it's not the first time Pac-Man has appeared on our screens as Hanna-Barbera produced an animated series based on the franchise which ran for two seasons in the early 1980s. Let's see if this outing lasts any longer.

I actually like the sound of this. If it were on Takeshi's Castle's level of craziness it would be amazing.And so long as Ms Pac-Man doesn't show up and start calling him 'Paccy' like she did in the cartoon.

Guys, I don't think you're getting what this is. It's not a cartoon show, it's a game show along the lines of Wipeout (a game show where people must go though an obstacle filled path over a pool of water). So, I think this might actually be worth watching.

Haha, Wipeout is a pretty crazy show to watch (normally in a good way), so this should be pretty fun. I can see it now, some fat bald guy running through a real-life Pac-Man stage being chased by giant animatronic ghosts with a look of terror on his face.

Uh, this is a tough one because who doesn't want cool TV shows based on our favorite video game characters, but then again, if it's like all those other shows back in the 80's, we're all in trouble if this thing hits our TV screens.

@BulbasaurusRex Yes, that is true, but the new episodes are really awful. Like REALLY awful.